Suicide bomber kills 18 Iraqi police recruits

Source: MSNBC/AP

Eighteen new recruits were killed and 10 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up Monday outside a police camp at the city of Baqouba northeast of Baghdad, police said.

The recruits were gathered outside the camp waiting to be allowed inside for the day's training when the suicide bomber blew himself up in their midst, according to a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, whose militants have repeatedly targeted police and army recruits to discourage Iraqis from joining the country's nascent security forces.

Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, is the capital of Diyala province, where hundreds of Sunni Arab tribesmen and insurgents have in recent months joined the U.S. and Iraqi forces in the fight against al-Qaida.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21522861/

Source: Reuters


Link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29147879.htm

BAGHDAD, Oct. 29 -- A suicide bomber riding a bicycle killed 32 people and wounded 18 when he exploded Monday amidst a group of Iraqi police recruits, officials said.

The attack took place in volatile Diyala province, just north of Baghdad, during a morning roll call around 8:15 in the training yard of a police battalion, according to Col. Ali Ismael Fattah, the unit's commanding officer.

Among the wounded were a woman and child near the site of the explosion. Fattah said the casualty reports were preliminary and that the death toll might still rise. The recruits were undergoing training and scheduled to finish their course soon, Fattah said.

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